The Alphabet Discontinued
by Kuckucksei
Summary: Short stories depicting Coraline movie-verse. Now with the occasional fluffiness of blooming affection. I don't own Coraline or its rhyming alphabet.
1. A is for Adventures

_A is for adventures – the kind that you fear_

_When other's intentions are often unclear._

_------------------------------_

Coraline had nightmares about the beldam. Her tricks. Her evilness. Her personality.

It wasn't just that. It was the sheer pain of going through something that hit her full in the face, pulled her in and subsequently tried to kill her. Not a very nice experience for an eleven year old. Very … traumatic, even, if you will.

She looked at the door in the living room, wondering if it had all been a dream. If it had been, well too bad. That was that. But it had been real, she knew. It would always be real. Nothing gaped and glared at her like a single small door. Or buttons, for that matter, she frowned.

Coraline ate her breakfast cereal and went off to school. Wybourne was waiting, his usually friendly face carved into a mask of disbelief. Actually, no, make that a face of someone who has just seen a doll with button eyes on his porch. She asked him what was wrong, and he showed her a little doll, explaining that it had been left on his porch ... wait, _what?_

The young girl opened her mouth and stared at the doll, then re-hinged her jaw and stomped away, swearing to murder a certain button-eyed beldam.

Wybie seemed wordless for once, and, like a klutz, followed her – and all the while a watchful Bombay cat hissed. He had sincerely hoped that the beldam had been finished. Oh, well.

Never stop hoping, Cat.

Never...


	2. B is for Bobinsky

_B is for Bobinsky – seemingly nice_

_Until you discover his circus of mice._

_-----------------------------_

Sergi Alexander Bobinsky wasn't as old as many people thought he was – he was a measly fifty-six years old. And yet, most people who met him were amazed by his gymnastics and athleticism. Oh, come on, he wasn't _that _bad, was he? So he was a little bluish in the skin and he wore unsanitary clothes (at least, they were unsanitary in _this _era). That didn't mean to say he was an old and helpless man, right? _Right?_

He walked into his apartment and watched as the jumping mice scattered about to their places. Some went to pick up the tiny brass trombones, others the miniature cymbals and drum sets. Then they began to play "oompah oompah" and "toodle toodle" and a thousand more tunes.

"I wonder," the acrobat said to himself, aloud, "if there were another me, how he would be like? What do my _moushkas_ think?" he asked, perplexed, leaning down to examine each mouse's huge, doe brown eyes. Then he leaned back, smiling like the dickens had just disappeared.

"Bah! Not as good as _me!_" he snorted, jabbing his left index finger to his chest. "For I am the Amazing Bobinsky! I have survived war and ze Chernobyl disaster! I have come through thick and thin to rest here! And here I will stay for another twenty years, because no old Granny lady can kick me out! I have been here for ten years! TEN!"

The mice started squeaking at this outburst, rather disgruntled and irritated; they even stopped their band playing. Mr. Bobinsky looked back at them again, his expression softening. "Sorry. Mr. B get a little … excited sometimes, you know?"

He proceeded to walk out the door to his apartment, and a loud yell was heard. The mice "tsked tsked" and put down their instruments, as Russian profanity was hoyed (thrown) out of their leader's mouth.

Probably because Wybie was uprooting all of the beets, and he had run away as soon as the Russian had started screaming at him, and throwing beetroot...


	3. C is for Coraline

_C is for Coraline – brave little girl_

_Who unlocks the door to a whole different world._

_--------------------------------_

The young adventurer trekked through the mud, a cat clinging unhappily to her raincoat as the mist parted. She paused after a few meters, and smiled.

A gushing waterfall greeted her warmly, and the cat's ears flattened upon its head distastefully.

The adventurer's name was Coraline Jones. She was the daughter of Mel and Charlie Jones, and she was exploring. Wybie was at home with a cold, so he couldn't come to romp in the wilderness with her.

Coraline waded into the stream. It wasn't moving as fast as she'd thought, but she was careful not to slip, or else the cat would lecture her in its own mammalian way.

She made it across, but lost her balance as she gained a footing on the shore's first rock. Almost lost her balance, anyway.

With an undignified yowl, the cat's claws latched on too late, and they slid off of the raincoat. A loud "SPLASH!" rather told the rest of the story.

Coraline whipped around to look at the sopping cat, whose eyes put on a rather astonishing show of antipathy. She resisted the urge to giggle at its fur, which was dripping, and its eyes, which constantly had to blink water out.

_CORALINE! I SWEAR THAT IF IT IS THE LAST THING I DO, I WILL…_

She picked the poor cat up and held it close to her body. She then tromped back home, which took about ten minutes, and almost dropped the cat when she saw the little Wybie doll at her front porch, with a black key tied to it…

* * *

**Note: Thank you to Archery Shootingstar Bright for reviewing!  
Second Note: I'm bursting to write the letter "I"!**


	4. D is for Dad

_D is for Dad – he's sweet but he's boring_

_Works all day long while Coraline's exploring._

_-----------------------------_

Charlie Jones loved his daughter very, very much. Just that much was obvious to anybody who saw the two talking.

But although they had a good father-daughter relationship, occasionally Coraline would look at him as if she were terrified. Please, he might have been slightly displeasing to the people on the street, but his own _daughter?_ – Pssh.

Those moments only happened when he said things like "cute as a button" or even when he called her a "doll" – she would kind of cringe and huddle into a ball for a moment, as if trying to relive some distant nightmare.

Or get away from it.

When that happened, he usually got a warning glare if he attempted talking again. Poor Mr. Jones.

Other than that, the two shared a perfectly lively life under the Pink Palace's roof. Unfortunately, though, Charlie could somewhat be a klutz.

The cat (o! how the ubiquitous feline is oft the brunt of jests*) was lying on the porch steps one morning, while Charlie was out to get the newspaper, half-asleep. It seemed he only saw the animal too late, and tripped up on his own slippers (which were blue and boring, and not pink monkeys), head over heels, and crashed into the dirt below. The cat woke up with a start and rather stood up indignantly. It swung around and disappeared, but there was no way Coraline's father could have seen that.

Subsequently, when he looked up, one of his glasses' lenses was broken. That aside, he could almost swear he could see a bright flash of orange drifting smoothly into the garden's soil – a flower? – with what seemed to be a dragon's head at the tip. And then, it was gone…

* * *

**Note: Thanks to Nicktendo Squad for reviewing!  
*I love using Shakespeare-era language. It sounds so dignified.**


	5. E is for Entrance

_E is for entrance – to a great world of wonder_

_Where a wicked witch hunts for souls she can plunder._

_-------------------------_

Coraline woke up to pounding in the night. She sat up in her bed, groggy but somewhat worried, and listened to the rhythmic beat – terrifying and fascinating, like no beat ever before invented. When the sound intensified, she slipped out of bed and crawled over to her door. Nothing. It was coming from outside of the house.

So she quietly padded over to the window, careful not to step on the creaky board in the floor. She stepped on the creaky board anyway.

_SQUUEAKK…_

She grimaced and paused a moment, listening for her parents. All that happened was the hiatus of snoring … and then it went on.

Coraline sighed in relief.

She made it to the window and looked out. Her eyes widened.

Let's take a little break for a minute. For those who saw the movie, I would like to ask you if you remember the trumpets from the other father's garden. The trumpet lilies, actually. You know, the ones that unrolled once he blew? Yes, that's the one.

Coraline watched as one glowing bulb unrolled and gave a loud trumpet; the earth cracked and black tar seeped out, overflowing, rancid tar … and floating on the tar was a … small … brown … door…

"NO!"

_THUMP._

"Ow."

Coraline woke up wrapped in her sheets, sweating. The window was open and the sweet night breeze wailing inside the room. She stood up, closed the windows and drew the curtains.

Luckily it had only been a bad dream.

Hadn't it…? _Hadn't it...?_

* * *

**Note: Thanks to Nicktendo Squad for reviewing! And foreverandever!  
Second Note:Nope, I didn't make the rhymes. On GoogleImages, the Coraline alphabet search usually brings out the panels which have the rhymes in them. I'm not creative enough to make Coraline rhymes.**


	6. F is for Forcible

_F is for Forcible – a Thespian master_

_Even if her wardrobe's an utter disaster!_

_--------------------------_

Miss Forcible read the newspaper every day. It was just so, and it had always been so. Miriam Liliana Forcible was her full name, and rather hard in the mouth. She had always been called Liliana since she was six years old, until Miss Spink had started calling her "Miriam." And the name stuck, quite sadly, and Miss Forcible never really liked the name Miriam anyway.

Mr. Bobinsky swung by one day, looking confused. "Have you seen anything strange lately?" he enquired.

"Have we seen anything strange lately, April?" Miss Forcible asked Miss Spink.

"No, we have not," said Miss Spink.

Mr. Bobinsky stood awkwardly in the doorway for a moment.

Then Miss Forcible happened to turn to the nine stuffed Scottie dogs on the shelves. And as she saw, one of them…

_Moved?_

Indeed, it turned it head toward her and bared its teeth, its button eyes flashing savagely and its once dead fangs now quite alive, thank you.

"Oh, good heavens, _APRIL!"_

Miss Spink looked at where Miss Forcible was looking, and so did Mr. Bobinsky. To Miss Forcible, the dog was still growling, but to the others' eyes, it was stuffed and still dignified.

"What's wrong, Miriam?" asked Miss Spink.

"Jock Senior growled at me!" sobbed Miss Forcible hysterically. "He still is!"

Mr. Bobinsky kept his mouth shut very well.

"I can't see what you're seeing," said Miss Spink.

"Nor can I," said Mr. Bobinsky.

Miss Forcible whirled into the couch and her great loud sobs could have been heard for miles around. Mr. Bobinsky left Miss Spink to comfort her sister.

But as he left, he could almost vow that the aforementioned Scottie had winked at him…

* * *

**Note: Thanks to Nicktendo Squad for reviewing! And yeah, I would get a heart attack too.**


	7. G is for Ghost Children

_G is for ghost children – who are locked far away_

_Until someone rescues them, in other world they must stay._

_-------------------------_

Coraline looked at the Boring Blue Boy. The Boring Blue Boy was _the _boy, the boy of the three she had set free.

He was wearing blue overalls and a white shirt, holding an ice cream cone; the ice cream had fallen onto the floor and dripped onto his overalls while the waffle cone was lonely and suspended in the air, in a painted hand. What bothered Coraline had to do with his eyes. Round, despairing, bluer than the sky of the rising noon.

What happened next, Coraline supposed, was a hallucination.

The Blue Boy's eyes melted, slowly, drifting away like heated was, and was replaced, fragment by fragment, by two large, brilliant blue buttons.

Coraline staggered backwards and blinked. Nothing had changed, she sighed in relief. The Blue Boy was the Blue Boy, with his perfect blue eyes.

She went into her room and went around in her vanity's drawer, and took out the box with the eggshell thin fragments of the hamster balls that had once contained the souls of poor lost children. Coraline closed her eyes and concentrated on their memory, a shadow of a whisper in the dark.

"Hello, Miss," said the tall ghost girl, smiling.

_"Hello," _said Coraline, smiling in her thoughts.

"We thought you'd forgotten about us," said the sweet ghost girl, drawing pictures in the air. They resembled kittens, or at least it seemed to Coraline the sweet ghost girl was making kittens.

_"I couldn't forget about you." _She frowned. _"Where's Huck Finn Junior?"_

The sweet ghost girl blinked. "Remington, do you mean?"

_"That's a funny name, but if it's the boy, yeah," _explained Coraline lamely.

The tall ghost girl sighed. "Remington is … trapped. Behind your mirror. He can't get out. I'm sorry, Miss. _She's _back."

Coraline snapped out of her concentration and sharply looked into the mirror. A pair of sad buttons stared at her, and there was an evil smirk behind Remington…

* * *

**Note: Thanks to Black-Cat-2095 for reviewing!  
Second Note: Only "H" to go, and then "I!"**


	8. H is for Hands

_H is for Hands – that crawl on their own,_

_Trying to steal you away from your home!_

_-----------------------_

Wybie recovered from his cold soon enough, but by then it was winter. And all throughout, he wondered what was worse: a depressing cold or waking up from one in the middle of winter.

Actually, what was the absolute worst was that Coraline wouldn't talk to him anymore. She paled at his friendliness, sometimes running, sometimes rooted to the spot. Mostly, though, there was one thing she did: she brushed past him and shuddered at his touch. Wybie wondered if Coraline had found a new best friend, or saw something frightening in him … besides the autumn-filled mess of hair and his hunched back, of course.

Then he thought something dreadful. _What if she thinks I look like _Igor _from _Frankenstein _by Mary Shelley?_ Determined to find out, he followed her home one day ("No wonder he's called the village stalker!"), followed her to the well. He froze. The well water was frozen, he knew. Coraline lifted up the boards. There was one long moment, with the only noise the bawling whipping wind.

It came out. Slowly, inexorably. Coraline seemed unbothered, unconcerned, but Wybie stepped back, covering his mouth with a gloved hand. A glinting, metallic hand, made of rusting needles, dragged a black key with it.

Wybie felt pressure on his head. He felt on top of the matted hair, and pulled down…

His button-eyed doll. His button-eyes doll? How did it get here?

The hand paused, hesitantly, and Coraline put down the planks, looking at the hand loathingly. "So! You're back, already, when my life was perfectly normal," she hissed.

In a blinking moment, the Wybie doll flew from the boy's hands into the needle one. Wybie grimaced, wishing that he had kept a firmer hold on the doll.

In another blinking moment, the hand scurried away.

Wybie looked at Coraline, at a loss. "Cora … line…"

"Let it do what it wants," said Coraline, angry. "I'll beat _her _again no matter what!"

And so both made it back to their homes safely that night … but … something more international was about to happen. Something involving the _whole world..._

The Bombay cat slunk far into the shadows, bright blue eyes following the parade of rats, and it snarled something so dreadfully horrific sounding that the parade went _scurrying_…

* * *

**Note: Thanks to Nicktendo Squad and Archery Shootingstar Bright for reviewing!  
Second Note (to Archery Shootingstar Bright): Who says they'll escape or defeat her again? Only time will tell...**


	9. I is for Impostors

_I is for impostors – that look just like you_

_But live in a world too good to be true._

_---------------_

The other mother moved her hand and grimaced. The joints weren't perfectly correlated, but it would have to do for now. She had already brought the other Wybie back, and he was suffering right now, in the punishment room. Ouch. Nothing like a wrecking ball to knock 'em sprawling.

Then she perked up a little, when multiple confused questions were heard in her workshop. The other Bobinsky twirled his baton, evidently perplexed as to how he was reincarnated, and it bonked him on the head comically (while the real Bobinsky would twirl it in hopes of teaching his mice). The other sisters were doing something similar to a girly hand fight, in which they both turned their heads away from each other and swatted their hands together, looking thoroughly ridiculous (the real sisters would be circled around the tea table, talking about Ophelia and the likes).

And in the far corner, the cat sat on top of a round, blue ball. "You won't win," he said dryly. "Coraline and Wybie will make sure of it."

"Oh, poo with Coraline and Wybie," said the other mother. "Coraline is coming with me, oh yes she is. Now excuse me, Vermin, I have to make the last doll."

After she was gone, the other Wybie walked in, bruised and bleeding the black tar. The black tar.

The cat fell onto the floor and sauntered up to the other Wybie. _She'll hurt them again, Wybourne._

He felt the cat under his hand, scooped it up, held it close to himself. _I don't understand, Cat._

_Neither do I, Wybie, _thought the cat. _Neither do I…_

* * *

**Note: Thanks to Nicktendo Squad, buttonsxforxeyes, and atola91 for reviewing.  
Second note: Sorry about not updating for so long. Writer's Block is a pet peeve of mine, but it happens a lot. Again, sorry.  
Third note: Someone, PLEASE call the child abuse hotline on the other mother. The other Wybie is suffering.**


	10. Interlude Preview

Interlude

Yeah, not a new chapter, exactly … but it's an interlude.

Okay, SilverJellicle34, there's some slight CoralineXWybie coming up, so keep your eyes open. Also, watch what happens in "Z." You might be creeping with suspicion after you read it. See, see, it's all planned out. I am the mastermind of the Alphabet! COUGHCOUGHHACKHACKAHEM anyway…

As a special treat, for rabid Coraline x Wybie and other pairings fangirls … and boys … each one of these interludes will contain some … special … scenes from what we normally … _do not see._ NO IT IS NOT XXX RATED CONTENT, IT'S FLUFF AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE FLUFF DEAL WITH IT!

Sorry. Random outburst. And you know … the Interludes will only happen if you want them to. XD

…Yeah. Let's just get on with it.

**~Coraline x Wybie~**

"Hey, Wybie!" called Coraline, catching up with the bent-necked boy. "Did you see what was happening behind the house yesterday? It seems like Jesse's taking a liking to Cat." She smirked.

"J…Jesse?" gulped Wybie. Jesse was the calico cat that they had discovered hidden in the garden a few weeks back, a round kitten with angelic mews and frayed whiskers. It had seemed that she had adopted Cat as an acceptable parent.

"Yup, Jesse," Coraline repeated, and tugged at his arm. "Want to come and see?"

"Uh … uh …"

"Okay, let's go!"

---

_Oh man, Jonesy, _thought Wybie miserably. _Gramma's gonna be _so _mad … I'm not even supposed to be here…_

"Here, look!" beamed Coraline. Wybie trotted over to her left, flattening his hair with one skeleton-gloved hand.

He had been previously worried about his grandmother, but at the funny sight of the cat being harassed by a small, multicolored kitty (and yet not moving at all), he lightened. "They're … kinda cute," he admitted sheepishly, and suddenly he wondered whether his father would do that with him too. Coraline's father sure did; he occasionally gave her the piggyback ride, but … Wybie's parents had disappeared when he was three … and now …

He looked away, kind of embarrassed. Coraline didn't notice his awkwardness; she was too busy with observing the cats.

"J … Jonesy … I'll have to go now…"

"Why-were-you-born, your voice is strange…" Coraline said playfully, and swung him around from his arm. She did not expect a flurry of anger.

"Leave me alo … alone!" He snatched his arm back and stormed off.

"Wybie?" Coraline called, long after he was gone.

But that was that. Wybie had disappeared.

---

Wybie didn't return to his grandmother's house; instead he rode his bike down to the pleasant waterfall nearby, and sat there contemplatively. He shouldn't have shouted at Coraline back there. He'd just lost his only human friend, he thought, and misery and utter despair sank down on him like the Titanic.

He sat there for a couple of hours, with his face buried in his hands, before "Wybie?" was heard. Soft and sweet, like the light ballet of moonbeams or the wild chorus of the wind.

"Coraline." He said it with finality, as if he didn't want to talk.

"I'm sorry, Wybie. It was your parents, right? They disappeared when you were young, right?" She sat beside him, he could hear.

"Wybourne."

He felt his eyes water for a moment, but blinked them back stubbornly, forced his mind to focus on the light splashes of carp or the tendrils of clear spring water hitting, breaking the surface.

"Wybie. Why-were-you-born."

An unexpected pressure from all sides made his seize the hands from his eyes as he started. But it was only Coraline giving him a hug. So he went back to his former stance.

Coraline seemed disappointed at her failure.

After a half-hour, though, Wybie peeked out of his fingers. Coraline was sleeping on his shoulder, her dyed blue hair lit by the fireflies' waltzes and the moonlight's serenade.

And despite himself, Wybie smiled, and hugged her back.

So, Interludes or no Interludes? It's up to you.


	11. J is for Jump

_J is for jump - which certain mice do_

_When blessed with the talents of a kangaroo._

_---_

"Coraline," whispered Wybie uncertainly, crawling into the dark cavern they had discovered a few days ago. "Are you in here, Jonesy?"

"Why-were-you-born," answered a voice. Wybie winced; the scowl was obvious in that address. Too obvious.

"Listen, Jonesy, I saw a little uniform outside my house today. Really small. Red and black and gold. It's in my pocket."

No answer, but Wybie heard a shuffling sound.

"Darn it Coraline. What are you doing?" he hissed, and went deeper into the cave. He screamed so loudly after that, and the birds outside of the cave fluttered their wings indignantly.

"Be quite, why-were-you-born!" snarled Coraline.

"Jonesy has fangs," whimpered the bent-necked boy. "Coraline is a vampire."

"Knock it off!" growled Coraline, whacking her friend in the head with a purse in the shape of a bat. "It was truth-or-dare, and Sam told me to 'dress up like a vampire.' So I went to watch the 'Twilight' movie and since vampires are supposedly sparkly and have fangs and are pale..." She grimaced.

"Jonesy is a vampire," said Wybie, crying slightly.

"Shut _up_ why-were-you-born!"

"DON'T DRINK MY BLOOD JONESY! I WON'T MAKE FUN OF YOUR ECCENTRICITY ANYMORE!"

"What?!" Coraline scoffed. "Eccentrici-hullabaloo wha?"

Wybie blinked. "Oh. Eccentricity."

"Listen Wybie." Coraline leaned forward, and looked the bent-necked boy in the eye. "What was that uniform you mentioned?"

Wybie blinked again. Then he pulled out the uniform.

Red velvet, gold and black lining. Coraline recognized it immediately.

"Discard it," she said quietly. Wybie was immediately terrified; the combination of the moonlight and Coraline's glitter-littered skin made her look like a typical "Twilight" vampire.

"Why?" he asked.

"That uniform," Coraline stated. "It was a mouse's. But not just any mice. The other Mr. B's mice." She frowned. "And apparently, if that uniform got into _this _world..." She shuddered. "Let's just say that it's lights out for us all, why-were-you-born."

"Um ... Coraline?" asked Wybie. He was a skeptic when it came to Coraline's tales of the otherworld. "What if Mr. B just kinda lost his mind and outfitted his little rodents with these?"

"Mr. B's not that crazy," affirmed the blue-haired child. "Sure, he likes weird beets and his breath could really do with some Listerine, but ... well ... he bought these uniforms last week and he showed me. He told me that _those _were for the mice. But they were cheese-patterned onesies."

Wybie's mouth hung open. "Cheese-patterned onesies?"

At that moment, squeaking caught both attentions, and a large kangaroo rat - or, in Mr. Bobinsky's terms, jumping mouse - watched them. It's too bad buttons can't bend, but it seemed as if the buttons were narrowed in suspicion. Its paws were curled in front of its chest.

The button eyes gleamed in the moonlight, fierce and wild and untamed.

Wybie would have screamed again, if he hadn't been clawing at Coraline's fake vampire cape. "Button-eyes! Button-eyes!"

Coraline rolled her eyes. She threw the uniform to the button-eyed mouse. It bent over, sniffed the uniform, slipped into it, and hopped away.

Let's just say that, when night came, Wybie's sleep was filled with images of a button-eyed Mousezilla beating up Slugzilla...

* * *

**Note: Thanks to SilverJellicle34, LizzySkellington, and Nicktendo Squad for reviewing. So who's up for Interludes? ^w^  
Second Note: Twilight is to Stephenie Meyer. Listerine is ... trademarked.**


	12. Interlude: Coraline and the other Wybie

**~Coraline x Other Wybie~**

Coraline had snuck into her parents' room while they were out. She knew that it was against the rules but, as she reminded herself, rules are meant to be broken.

In truth, she was looking for an album with a certain picture in it - she was absolutely sure she had been dreaming at the time, but - there was a picture of them on a camping trip (her and her parents) laughing in what seemed to be mirth. That wasn't the interesting part.

The interesting part was in the background.

There was a little boy in a trench coat with a black cat hanging across his shoulders. His hair was frizzy, autumn-filled with vibrant leaves against a mocha background. His boots were swampy green, and his jeans were tattered and the color of a faded blue.

Coraline was very sure it had been the other Wybie - the real Wybie's coat had lemon-colored stripes, while other Wybie's was a charcoal grey. There was only one problem, though.

The picture was taken four weeks before they'd moved into Ashland, Oregon. Which meant, somehow, that the other Wybie had been aware of existence _before _Coraline's entering the country.

_It was in _Florida, thought Coraline darkly. A drape of shadow on the windowsill snapped her head toward its direction. The cat yawned, its long pink tongue and razor sharp canines shown perfectly.

_Well,_ he thought. _So you've seen, haven't you Coraline?_

"What..." Coraline showed him the picture, "does this mean?"

_It means that the other Wybie hasn't forgotten his promise to me,_ said the cat. Or rather, thought-spoke the cat. _He'd promised me a promise, you know, in the otherworld. He would find a way for everybody to be free from the other mother. Now, that is proof of just that._ Pause. _He found a hole which winded through the time-space continuum. Such as the portal. It was a hole that was frequently used by yours truly after he found it. Now, before you came, you remember those two friends of yours, Coraline?_

"Oh, yeah. We used to call them Ron and Hermione at our school."

_They used to be part of the other world, Coraline._ The cat's blue eyes narrowed. _Until the other Wybie led them out. Of course, they immediately turned into something else. "Ron" turned into a beetle print on the wall, "Hermione" likewise. But the other Wybie, clever sawdust bag that he is--_

"You know, Cat, it's funny how you can insult someone while complimenting at the same time."

_It's my specialty, child. Anyway, the other Wybie found out that you had to feign unconsciousness while running through the loop; you wouldn't be able to jump through while sleeping or knocked out. So he tried. Succeeded, and he went to Florida quickly to catch a glimpse of you. Of course, the other mother found out soon enough. She sealed the hole after taking him back and ripping out his vocal cords._

Coraline's face went into one of horror. "Go on."

But the cat was no longer paying attention to her. His ears were pricked up, eyes alert. Then he settled back down and stared at her saucily.

_Sleep no later than eleven tonight, Coraline._

_---_

Obeying the cat's instructions, Coraline fell asleep at ten. A strange dream erupted in her sleep.

She was sitting in a dark forest, putting on her shoes, when a voice called out, "Coraline ... Coraline..." in a delightful, musical cadence. Sweet. Like a lullaby.

Coraline walked through the forest until she was close enough to the source of the voice. A clearing.

Rats scuttled about, their paws and glowing red eyes indications of forces to be reckoned with. _"We are small but we are many we are many we are small we were here before you rose we will be here when you fall."_

"Coraline!"

Coraline looked at a figure in the forest. Dark. Not too tall. But now there was a slight mist hanging after the rats' chanting.

"Step where I can see you," she articulated.

Footsteps growing closer. Coraline gasped.

"Other Wybie!"

He put two fingers to his lips. "Shh! She'll hear you." Around them, that same musical "Coraline" rang through the dead, empty, bare tree-fingers.

"I'm so glad," whispered Coraline, grinning. "To see you again. I've been waiting for this, you know!"

A soft smile flashed onto the other Wybie's face again. "This is the only place we're safe from _HER._ Even if she hears you, she's unable to step into this clearing. It's because this clearing is the creation of the _good _other mother, the one before the _beldam._"

Coraline stared at him stupidly.

"There are two types of other mother, Coraline," he explained. "Beldam and Nurse. Nurse has been locked inside your house for a century, Coraline, resting. She almost always hides somewhere difficult to find, whether above or below."

Coraline nodded.

"Find her and set Remington free, Coraline." The other Wybie contemplated a little. Then he smiled, leaned down, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before fading into the mist again...

* * *

**Note: Thanks to SilverJellicle34 (Coraline will never be a Twilight, Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, or any Disney Channel junkie in my fanfics), LizzySkellington (Twilight movie is not something I have ever seen myself), NicktendoSquad (unuu~! Arigatou!!), Nausicaa of the Spirits (great job on the Coraline Remake. Talamasca-Utonagan), and PoisnousPixie (oh, but the rhymes aren't mine ... but yeah, I have to picture them saying it in my head and if it doesn't sound right, I change it!) for reviewing!  
Second note: Watch out!! Next interlude: the other father x the other mother... O.O interesting. And after, Mel x Charlie ... and Wybie x Coraline again! **


	13. K is for Knowledge

_K is for knowledge - some special cats know_

_About worlds where girls like Coraline shouldn't go._

_------------_

The cat huffed under its breath in irritation. It had rarely ever been put off in its life (one of the most memorable moments was when Coraline had thrown it at the beldam), but even less had it been worried, agitated, anxious, and furious at the same time (when the other Wybie disappeared - that was the only time it'd ever felt the same pangs).

Its ears pricked at the moment, and it swiveled to see what the noise had been.

A rabbit. The cat turned back around and impatiently trotted to the Pink Palace.

Coraline was on the porch, making some paper handcraft.

"Aha," the cat heard her say. Her hand rose and threw the paper into the air. It was in the shape of a clean, streamlined jet, which the cat had never seen before. It hissed, thinking the paper jet was a threat, and knocked it down as it leaped up into the air.

"CAT!"

The cat turned, blinking, to witness Coraline's angry expression.

_No time for anger, _sighed the cat to itself. Battling with its own pride, it slunk over to her and asked forgiveness by purring and rubbing against her hand.

"Well, it's okay," said Coraline, looking disappointed. "But it took me three hours to figure it out - I'm no good at making crafts, you know..."

The cat growled in its thoughts. _Same as always, even when danger is near. Really, these humans are so _inferior ... _I bet that the only reason they've survived is because they're good predators, some of them..._

It relinquished any sign of affection just then; the cat looked up at Coraline sternly, his cold blue eyes narrowed, turning them into an eerily glowing cobalt.

Coraline blinked. "What's wrong, Cat?"

He focused his glare even more, narrowing his eyes so much it looked as if he were squinting.

Coraline thought. "Charades?"

_How blunt can you get? _The cat waited.

"Er, the little door?"

The cat's eyes sprang back to normal size; it paced its way past her and pawed at the front door. Coraline opened it, because domestic cats for the matter do not have opposable thumbs or the desired height to open a door.

The cat sprinted its way into the foyer and crept under the stairs. Coraline waited, her arms folded across her chest, as the cat slowly came back out backwards.

He seemed to be dragging something, from the look of it.

Coraline's look went from boredom to curiosity as a plank of wood emerged from the darkness of the stairs.

She picked it up.

The cat mewed, and a dry voice in her thoughts sighed, _Read._

It then left by way of teleportation under the stairs.

Coraline noticed the words carved into the wood. Excitedly she read:

"DECEMBER 24, 1909:

Dear Diary, I want to tell you that I've found a secret in the otherworld I've been going to for months now! It concerns my friend Greymalkin the cat. Have I told you about him (he told me he was male)? He's a very stupendous cat, black with shiny eyes. Anyway, he led me into a 'loop-hole,' as he called it, that would allow me to go into the otherworld without getting caught by the other mother. He announced it a wonderful invention (did you know that he also taught me how to talk and write this way? Everybody says 'thou' and 'thee,' but the cat, splendid critter that he is, says that these words will be the future! Is he not amazing?) and urged me to go through. It is found in Ashland, Oregon, in a large grey house with three floors. The cat also told me it would be pink later on, and that a girl with blue hair will read my words on a wooden board. Wonder if that's true? So, it's located in the basement - with Missus Kimberley (but the cat told me it would be 'Miss Spink and Miss Forcible' in time)! It's hidden under the floorboard that..."

At that point, the board ran out of space. Coraline was speechless, not only for the fact that there was a loophole that could protect her from the beldam...

But also that Cat's family was a generation of _mind readers..._

* * *

_  
_

**Note: Thanks to Nicktendo Squad, PoisnousPixie, and SilverJellicle34 for reviewing!**

**Second Note: Please read Review27, Talamasca-Utonagan. **


	14. L is for Ladies

_L is for ladies - in this world, they're old_

_But in otherworld they're acrobats, daring and bold!_

_---_

Wybie hummed a dissonant tune as his bike thrummed over each slow curve of the hills. Coraline had urged him over the night before, and their houses were about three miles apart. Not that his bike went thirty miles per hour, though - probably only ten or fifteen miles an hour. What was to be expected of the old thing, anyway?

He parked his makeshift bike near the front porch and knocked on Flat B's door. A moment later Coraline had answered, her appearance disheveled and the cat resting on her head.

"About _time _you got here, why-were-you-born!" She pulled Wybie inside with so much force he fell onto the carpet on his face complaining. "Don't just sit there cursing! Get up already, _come on_!"

Wybie grunted and got to his feet. Coraline ran into the living room as soon as he'd done so.

He followed with a confused look on his face.

The cat hopped down from Coraline's head, staring at Wybie with a bored look. _It's really important that this be done._

Coraline retrieved a big black key from her pocket. "This morning, Cat and I got it back." She put the key in the lock and twisted it. The door creaked open slowly, revealing shimmering azure and magenta, light moving from place to place outside.

Wybie gawked, but only had a few seconds to gather his thoughts before Coraline pushed him into the tunnel.

He fell onto a floor, dazed, again on his face. Seconds later, Coraline had also come, the cat gone.

When Wybie looked up, he saw what was almost the mirror image of Coraline's real parlor, save for the little blue boy and the twinkling night sky outside the windows. Coraline grimaced as no sound was heard - indeed, the cliche "so quiet you could hear a pin drop" can be used here. She pulled on Wybie's sleeve.

"H-Hang on, Coraline!" he stuttered. "What is _this?"_

"I told you before ... weren't you listening? It's where _she, _the other mother, lives." Coraline tugged a little harder. "Look, let's go, I want to go see whether or not people actually still live here..."

They both walked out of the house, into cold night air.

---

"Well, here's Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's flat," said Coraline. They had just inspected the other Bobinsky's house, which had been empty.

Coraline opened the door to the basement and walked in boldly, while Wybie hung back just a bit, but soon hurried after her.

The lights were very dim, flickering on and off, but at least they revealed every corner of the theater.

A gust of air shot past them; Coraline looked up quickly. A dog-bat spiraled up into the shadows of the trapeze, and Wybie pinched his arm. "All a dream. All a dream."

As he said this, the lights all went out.

Coraline snarled, "Wybie!"

"Sorry, Coraline."

A blast of bright light shot out suddenly from the ceiling, revealing all. Coraline realized with horror that the dog-bats were all just Scottie dogs now, sitting in the wide range of theater seats, panting. Which meant only one thing - a performance.

"Oh, no -- Wybie,_ duck_!" she screamed, dropping to the floor. But Wybie wasn't fast enough; he was picked up by something zooming past him; he was thrown into the air, yelling, trying to orientate himself with little success; he saw Coraline below, staring at him, frozen; and he was tossed this way and that by some unknown force. At last, he was thrown onto a mattress on the stage, and he looked around wildly for his adversary.

Two tall ladies strode forward, both wearing tight suits that he'd seen gymnasts wear before; one wore pink, and the other green. The pink-suited lady had golden hair flowing past her shoulders, and the green-suited lady had auburn hair tied up into a messy bun.

They had button eyes.

"Wybie? Wybie Lovat?" asked the green lady with fascination.

"My, I think it is so!" giggled the pink one. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Wybie." She turned to the green lady. "Let's have Wybie, shall we?"

"We shall." The green lady went backstage.

Wybie caught Coraline's eye - she was every bit as confused as he was. Then she gasped as her eyes rose above him, rested on something behind him. She staggered forward, as if it were only this kind of revelation that would keep her standing.

The boy on the mattress slowly turned around as footsteps were heard behind him. And he gasped, himself.

The green lady had come back, with a boy attached to her arm, peeking around her elbow. He was slightly taller than Wybie, had a thick black coat, faded blue jeans, black gloves, and an uncertain face. When he saw Coraline,he immediately brightened.

The boy had button eyes, and looked almost exactly like the real Wybie.

"Other Wybie," sighed Coraline, climbing up the stairs to the stage and approaching him. The other Wybie detached from the green lady, and Coraline was clearly holding back as she stared at him, taking in his image carefully. "You're back." She threw her arms around him, giving him the tightest embrace she could.

* * *

**Note: Thanks to LizzySkellington (thank you), PoisnousPixie (Cat needs to be a mind reader; I got the same reaction when Nausicaa of the Spirit's fic, Coraline Remake, featured me as "TU" at the top of the page), SilverJellicle34 (I barely ever ever ever think every chapter before I write - improvisation ahoy), and Nicktendo Squad (I wanted Cat to be mystical. Thank you!)  
Second Note: The return of the other Wybie! Also, I've decided to do a little twist for "Z is for Zanzibar" - there will be two endings, one the happy, one the ... unhappy. Also, read the reviews for the FULL Alphabet (which is posted under Talamasca-Utonagan). **


	15. M is for Music

_M is for music – from a piano that plays you_

_Attached to your hands with rods and with glue!_

_---------------_

The other Wybie and Coraline walked off stage, as real Wybie watched them with his mouth agape.

"This is your _other, _why-were-you-born." Coraline laughed. "He can't talk, unlike you."

Wybie's otherworld counterpart waved.

"Mrreooow!" A large black shadow threw itself from the curtains. The lights flickered, died, and then lit again to reveal an empty theater, although it looked exactly the way Coraline had seen it first – the Spink and Forcible show.

The cat perched on top of the other Wybie's head. "Best be going, Coraline, Wybies. There is an unfamiliar presence I sense – the aura of a human child with no buttons in their eyes."

Coraline started. "There's a kid here with no buttons?"

"Ah, yes." The cat narrowed his eyes. "But it has an other. In the workshop. I can also see … the child is heading toward your father's study, Coraline."

"Let's go there," said Wybie, who had been unusually quiet. "Maybe … m-maybe they'll help."

---

"I hear music," said Wybie, his face confused. The truth was, he'd seen Coraline's father's study before – it was a room with a PC and a couple of bookshelves with gardening books.

"Coraline's other father," said the cat haughtily, "is a pianist and a gardener. The other mother tends to pull people far. Spink, Forcible – acrobats. Other Wybie – good friend with more appeal. Other father – musician and gardener. Herself – an 'amazing' mother with twice the love." The feline rolled his eyes. "Then she sews the buttons and eats your soul."

Coraline pushed the door of her other father's study open. The cat perked up. "Not here anymore. Presence is … I can't pinpoint it." He growled in frustration.

"Don't eat yourself up, Cat," Wybie comforted his distraught friend.

"Yeah, we'll ask my other father if he's seen anyone lately," agreed Coraline. The other Wybie nodded, shaking the cat, who snarled. Immediately, the other Wybie stopped nodding.

"'Scuse me," said Coraline, walking up to a man seated on a stool, facing a piano. "Have you seen a boy or girl in your study recently?"

As soon as Coraline had spoken, he swiveled around and squeaked, "I didn't do anything, I swear!"

Coraline looked at him queerly. "What?"

It took a moment before her other father processed what was going on. "Oh, sorry. I thought – _she _– came back."

"She?" asked Coraline asked excitedly.

"Scary, scary kid. Mother's assistant." He shook his head. "She tortures me."

"Tortures you?"

"One hundred seventy-five punishments in thirty categories," he whispered, terrified, before turning back around.

Coraline wandered back to her group. "Wow. So the other mother has an assistant, a girl, who tortures this guy…" She pointed to the other father. "And has one-hundred seventy-five punishments in thirty categories."

At that moment, two hands shot out of the piano. Wybie yelped, jumping back, and Coraline screamed as they grabbed the cat; they let him go, however, as soon as it began fighting and hissing.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" inquired a hard, mocking voice behind the group. Coraline noticed the other father froze, and noted that this must be the girl. She spun around. "Well, I want to talk to – you're a boy?"

* * *

**Note: Thanks to SilverJellicle34 (glad you don't hate me), Nicktendo Squad (happy and morbid), and PoisnousPixie (ho, their relationship will soon be revealed - Wybie and other Wybie, I mean - and the other mother...is in N) for reviewing!  
Second note: What the heck?! Is this kid a boy or a girl?!**


	16. Interlude: How Coraline got her Hat

**~How Coraline Got Her Hat~**

_Henry Selick says, in commentary, that Coraline's hat is that of a Japanese schoolboy's. I'm a big fan of Japan, so instead of a fluffy interlude, I'm writing another short story. DON'T KILL ME PLEASE!_

"There's a transfer student coming today, did you hear, Coraline?" said Rembrandt to his friend as he and his friends walked to school together.

"Transfer student?" said Hailey. "I didn't hear about that until today. You sure, Rem?"

"Hailey, it was up on the bulletin board yesterday," said Coraline. "The old principal guy put it there himself."

Minty shrugged. "Wonder how he'll be like, the transfer student?"

"Mint, who says it's going to be a boy?" giggled Julia. "It could be another girl."

"That's no good," complained Minty. "Girls are outnumbering the boys in the school three to one!" He stopped for a moment and picked up a shiny penny with the heads up on the sidewalk. "You can never have too much luck."

The group was compromised of Rembrandt, the ringleader, who was tall, lanky and had vivid red, shaggy hair; Hailey, a somewhat pudgy, slightly shorter girl with round spectacles and dark umber-colored hair; Coraline, a girl with blue, short hair and of average height; Minty, whose real name was Ontario Mintopous, had blond, spiky hair and green eyes; and Julia, a track star and number one female athlete with black hair and blue eyes.

All five of them arrived at the school, an ancient artifact of a building with marble floors, rough brick walls, and metallic cupboards. Coraline, Rembrandt, and Minty, who were all in the same class, said good-bye to Hailey and Julia as they headed toward their classrooms.

At the beginning of class, Mr. Adams, their homeroom teacher, brought a boy into the room.

"I knew it was gonna be a guy," murmured Minty triumphantly. Rembrandt raised an eyebrow, studying the transfer student carefully.

"Everybody," said Mr. Adams, "this is Riki Inoue."

"Japanese," grunted Rembrandt. "Inoue is a Japanese surname."

Coraline blinked. _Interesting. We've only had Chinese in this school._

"Hello," said Riki shyly. "I … I come from Japan." His accent was thick. His "hello" sounded more like "hallo."

"No hats," sighed the teacher, and Riki already looked mortified. He removed his cap, which was black and bore an emblem on the front.

"Now, class, I'd like you all to welcome Riki today. Make him feel at home."

The groan that rippled through the class froze Riki's face into one of terror.

---

Coraline was digging for snails during recess when she spotted Riki sitting huddled in a corner, holding his hat in his hands. Feeling oddly empathetic that day, she walked over to him.

"Hello," she said. Riki started and looked at her in suspicion.

"What are you going to do to me?" he asked warily.

"Nothing, I guess," shrugged Coraline. "You just looked really sad sitting here – like nobody in the world cared for you."

Riki sighed. "I don't like it here already. Everybody doesn't talk to me and when they do, it's always some tease or insult. I don't like it _here._" He emphasized "here."

"Don't worry, Riki." Coraline squatted down next to him. "You just need time to get used to this place. Then nobody will taunt you. Hey," she said suddenly, having a spark of inspiration. "Why don't you join our group?"

"Your group?"

"Our group is the most revered group in the fifth grade, see," said Coraline. "Like, the best. Sure, Rem's a little queer, and Julie's somewhat preppy, but we'll make sure nobody makes fun of you, Riki. I'll give you a promise."

"Umm … is your name … Coraline?"

"That's the first time anybody outside my family has called me my real name properly," said Coraline happily. "That's me."

Riki smiled. "I'll … join your group…"

"Great! Come on, then!"

---

"We'll miss you Coraline," said Rembrandt, under the arranged letters on the school's sign, which said, "Go Hubcaps at 7:30 M Coraline good bye!"

"Yeah," said Julia, giving her friend one last hug. Minty nodded, and Hailey stood beside Rembrandt.

"Listen, you'd better send us mails when you've _gone to Oregon_," cracked Rembrandt.

Coraline grimaced. "I don't want to go."

"Listen, second mate," said the tall, lanky boy solemnly. "We'll make sure we'll do your share of mischief each week…"

"Putting thumbtacks on chairs," volunteered Julia.

"Blowing up firecrackers in bathrooms," chuckled Minty.

"Throwing paper airplanes at Mr. Adams," said Hailey.

"And throwing chalk at peoples' heads," insisted Riki gaily.

"Thanks, guys," said Coraline glumly.

"Oh, Coraline," said Riki. Coraline looked at him as he took off his hat and placed it on her head. "You've already got a frame from Hailey and Rem, but take this too."

"You _love _this hat," said Coraline. "I can't take it from you."

"Take it!" Riki protested. "Or I won't throw chalk."

"And I won't blow up firecrackers."

"And I won't put thumbtacks on chairs."

Coraline looked at their earnest faces in turn, then nodded. "Alright. I will. Jut make sure you blow up those bathrooms!"

She turned around, running towards the sunset and her expecting parents…

* * *

**Note: Erm, sorry. It -- this -- must _suck _badly. Anyway ... thank you, Coraline Pevensie, LizzySkellington, and the ever-faithful Nicktendo Squad. So next is N ... I'm pathetic...**


	17. N is for Needle

_N is for needle – which pulls the thread,_

_That sews on the otherworld buttons we dread._

-------------

"Well, it seems as if I've stumbled across some newbies. Although, I'm pretty sure you're _the _Coraline."

"Yeah – that's me," said Coraline warily. The person standing in front of her was diminutive, with short, scruffy brown hair and large, umber eyes, which were, at the moment, half-closed as if in mockery. The clothes were male-oriented, and on the child's face was a smirk, the kind you'd expect from a mischievous boy.

"It's a real pleasure to meet you. I'm not male, although I wish I were, and don't get any wrong ideas about me," said the child slyly, noticing the exchanged glances between the groups. "I'm only a cross-dresser – you know, a transvestite."

"What's your name?" asked the cat dryly.

"Markus Winchester. Markus with a 'k' in place of the 'c.'" Before anyone else could ask her any more questions, she glanced at the other Wybie and a silent discussion seemed to be in progress for just a moment, and then Markus went back out the double doors and disappeared.

"What'd she say, then?" asked Coraline. Wybie, usually straying away from the other Wybie's matters, was now a little curious. The cat, however, slid his eyes toward the garden, as if indicating that there was something important to be done there.

"Yeah, we get it, Cat," said Wybie. "W-we're gonna have to go out there, right?"

Coraline nodded wordlessly.

---

"Ma~n, what a pain in the neck," sighed Markus. "I can't believe you don't trust me even after I rebuild your foundations."

"Tut, tut," said the other mother, picking up a needle. "Patience is a virtue."

"It's not something I'm particularly famous for," retorted the younger of the two, as the other mother started walking her direction.

"I suppose not." The other mother shrugged.

"Truth told better, I'm more notorious for my extreme intelligence." Markus watched the other mother walk past. "And yet nothing changes in the end. I still must be bound to this world."

"Now, see here. You were able to escape the threat of button eyes without the recklessness or hotheadedness Coraline did. You barely said anything, except for the occasional, 'don't bother me.'"

Markus closed her eyes and leaned against the wall of the other mother's workshop.

"It's the way I am – I'm an insolent egoist. I won't help anybody but myself unless there's something I can gain." Pause. "Except for Lyre."

"That pet of yours," articulated the button-eyed witch, stopping in the darkness. "He's special, isn't he? You'd defend him to the death, wouldn't you?"

"Yes. Nobody gets away with harming Lyre, not even a member of my family. Nobody."

There was a metallic clink, and a few seconds later a button eye rolled onto the floor into the light.

"Nobody?"

"No one, no how."

There was the sound of a needle threading through cloth. In a minute the other mother reappeared, dusting her hands.

"That's all finished, anyway."

"Alright," said Markus, not moving.

"Why don't you go and play?"

"That's an immature way to tell me to go do whatever my intuition fancies."

"…I don't really know why I took you in."

"Me neither. Me neither."

* * *

**Note: Maa~, sorry for the wait. I got into Ouran High School Host Club and Konjiki no Gash Bell!! and I was fawning over Honey. I was also _so _bored as to lay around doing nothing. *gasp* Anyway, I hear that the other Wybie's got a deviantART. Maybe I'll make my own.  
Second Note: Arigatou, my faithful reviewers - that means Coraline Pevensie, SilverJellicle34, and PoisnousPixie. I have my own GaiaOnline, Wailight.  
Third Note: So my original character comes into light. Markus Winchester's nine years old, and I think the rating will go up just because of her extremely intelligent and dizzying remarks that she'll pull off later.**


	18. O is for Otherworld

_O is for otherworld - you may not want to leave,_

_Where the garden comes alive in ways you won't believe._

_---------------_

**THUD!**

"Run!"

**CRASH!**

"Jonesy!"

Three kids and a cat were running around the garden, shielding themselves with their arms, as the mantis tractor's pincers snapped behind them and its forelegs smashed into the ground heavily.

Coraline screamed as one smashing "arm" fell toward her face. Wybie tried to run to his friend's rescue, but before he knew it, his other pushed Coraline out of the way and took it upon himself to block the blow. A deep gash appeared in his left arm; black, tar-like substance began to ooze from it. Coraline ran to him, saying, "Wybie, Wybie, are you okay? I thought you were made of dust!"

Wybie stood by a little ways away, and the cat sighed with relief. This break was much enjoyed for the five seconds it lasted. Another bashing of the dirt behind them caused some soil to rain onto their heads. This did not help Wybie, whose head was already filled with autumn leaves and, Coraline would joke later, head lice.

The cat sucked in a breath as the mantis shook itself and mercilessly pelted the ground they had been standing once again. "What's with this onslaught?" he wondered aloud, and jumping onto Wybie's head. "Come on, Wybourne, we've got to stop this thing!"

No matter how hard the group tried, though, there was no absolute way of halting the tractor unless they somehow could climb onto its back, but that wouldn't have been much help anyway since the knob had been torn off from Coraline's ghost-hunting expedition.

"I really wish I could stop this thing," growled Coraline under her breath. The other Wybie looked at her for one moment in adoration; not many people would have had a rational mind right then.

Four orange snapdragons slithered out from the cracks in the rocks and calmly looked at the scene. They then began swaying in a fluent, dreamlike way, and as they did, the whole garden lit up with magic and bioluminescent lights. Coraline and the cat's system suddenly pulsed with adrenaline as the beautiful garden held their gaze, held them in a riveted stupor. The mantis tractor snapped its mandibles once, as if to proclaim certain victory, and dived.

**CRUNCH!**

The cat hissed in alarm, first thinking that the mantis had killed the two, but then blinked as something large and white stood behind the mantis, holding one of the wheels and harboring an almost appreciative look. Another second and the cat suddenly realized it knew this white thing. It had been a dog back then, a dog like a wolf, but quite small and with friendly brown eyes. The cat also recalled the dog's name to be Lyre.

"Lyre!" said the cat, appalled. "Lyre, I saw you about a month ago ... how did you get here?"

Coraline walked over to the Wybies, who were now quite sane but flummoxed as to how the mantis tractor had been broken.

"I walked into a loophole," admitted Lyre sheepishly. "A really big one. I ended up here. I don't know what this place is, but I'm glad you guys could stall Plume long enough for me to arrive."

"I beg your pardon?" enquired the cat. If it had had eyebrows it would have raised one. "Plume?"

"Mr. Mantis-Guy o'er there." Lyre chuckled. "Mind you, I'm a bit simple minded, a little too gullible. Mother said its name was Plume, but I think it was really Yukia."

_"Mother?"_

"Yeah, the other one." Lyre giggled but when he caught sight of Coraline he drew back. "You en't gonna _hurt _me, lassie?"

"No," replied Coraline.

"Great. Well, I'm Lyre, a Talamasca Utonagan. It's a pleasure to meet you. As long as you don't hurt me, but if you're a friend of ole Chesshy here - sorry, mate--" (the cat twitched) "I'd be glad to be your friend."

"Okay," said Coraline, and then looked surprised when Lyre's ears pricked.

"I heard - the scream of a little boy!" he said unhappily, "and it's coming from the house! Run! Dash about! Hurry! We musn't waste time!"

Wybie tilted his head, which looked very comical because of his scoliosis, which is _not _comical.

The other Wybie recognized that dog from ... somewhere. But there was no time. Coraline was sure the voice had been Remington, and they had to bound toward the house and investigate it.

* * *

**Note: Okay, thank you Coraline Pevensie and Nicktendo Squad!  
Second Note: The OM x OF is next after P ... and Markus will be there to spoil all of the fun with some of her amazing logic. Da da da da! **


	19. P is for Palace

_P is for palace – it's big and it's pink,_

_Looks like a magical place, don't you think?_

---

"My, my, what a huge place. Twisting and winding throughout ghastly labyrinths of unsuspected magicks and impudent booby traps."

"Can you not speak like that?" said the other mother, raising an eyebrow. "It's distorting and very much inappropriate."

"Can't help it, then," snapped Markus. "I was born in Britain, where everyone's either real polite or more talky."

"At least keep it to a minimum; Coraline and her little group – they're coming. Why don't you go hide in the rafters?"

"You should've been born in Britain, too – you'd be less rude." As she left, the other mother was clearly in an indecision – whether or not to discard the troublesome little child. True, she had the imagination and intelligence of a PhD professor, but there was a lot of smart-aleck, cheeky behavior that wasn't too pleasing.

Outside, Lyre was explaining to the cat, Coraline, and the Wybies how he didn't mind the other world very much.

"They feed me well," he said brightly. "That's always a positive." However, as he neared the front porch, his eyes shifted slightly, making him look unduly confused. "Well, she's waiting for you. Good luck, mates." Lyre disappeared into the air with a soft crack, and Coraline's little exploration team was alone. Coraline opened the door to the Pink Palace. As Lyre had said, the other mother, in the guise of a prettier Mel Jones, stood before them with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Hello, Coraline," she said sweetly, passing over malicious glances at the other Wybie and the cat.

Coraline didn't answer.

"I was wondering, dear, if you could do errands for me."

Wybie was staring at the other mother. "Hey _Jonesy_," he whispered. "Who's that?"

"That's the other mother," said Coraline, seemingly ticked off at the question. "My other mother, really. Watch out. If she catches you, she'll sew buttons in your eyes."

The other Wybie frowned, confused - he liked his buttons. They gave him sight; plus they were more durable than those jelly eyeballs humans had. There was also a strong emotion beginning to smolder that felt like jealousy in his chest. Frightened, he let go of the feeling by shaking his head and dreaming of purty kitties.

"Hello, Coraline," said the other mother, pursing her lips. "It's a pleasure to see you again." She looked at the other Wybie and the cat with some kind of contempt, and then continued. "You'd better watch out while you're exploring this flat," she warned.

"Why?" said Coraline.

"_That Winchester," _hissed the other mother, "set traps all over the floor. Can't go five steps without activating one.'

"What?" said Coraline, strolling forward. Immediately, a small explosion blew up in her face. A fit of coughing followed.

The cat blinked. "That's peculiar ... I didn't realize that was there..."

"What was that?" inquired Wybie, growing a little pale.

"Smoke bomb," answered the cat.

"She did _this _to my hand," added the other mother, holding up one hand that had previously been hidden from sight. It was mangled in such a way that it appeared as if some vulture had mistaken it for carrion, pecked at it, and had only flown away when it has gotten tired of trying to eat a swatting hand. "I stepped into Coraline's room today earlier, and a couple of kitchen knives just launched from behind me."

Wybie gawked when the other mother said this. Immediately he thought, _What kind of psycho is this?_

_Ah, just being her usual self, then, _the other Wybie comforted the other mother, who blanched for a couple of moments.

"_Usual? _What do you mean by that?"

_You'd be surprised, _replied the other Wybie smugly. _She does it to her little crew most everyday. Such as two weeks ago, I think she blew up a good part of the other father's garden. He was really angry with her after that, and he's _still _trying to replant._

"Don't use that train of thought with me," snapped the other mother.

Coraline, whose eyes were still somewhat watery, gasped for some breaths of air. "Oh, jeez. We're going to have to face traps each time we take four steps?"

"Sorry, dear," said the other mother, not looking very sorry at all. "You'll just have to get through with it, I expect."

---

**"A REAL MOTHER," **screamed Coraline, hopping onto the backs of alligators ten minutes later, **"WOULD NOT ABANDON HER DAUGHTER IN TIMES OF TROUBLE!!!"**

The cat simply grimaced as another alligator snapped up from below, wrecking the floorboards. "I find this activity rather ... amusing, if not ... unnecessary."

"Traitor!" hissed Coraline, as she tripped. At that precise moment though, the alligators disappeared. "Whew ... lucky."

The group rushed forward, not really knowing where they were going, and some dog-bats assaulted them.

"Why did I come with you Jonesy?" moaned Wybie, shooing some away; they were trying to make a house out of his hair.

_This is quite fun_, said the other Wybie to himself, weaving between channels of the flying mammals.

---

"...Made ... it..." Coraline was gasping by the time she made it to her other bedroom. She had a slightly sprained ankle, a couple of minor scratches below her elbows, and she looked as if something had just battered her around to its own content. Multiple things, really.

Even more worse-looking was Wybie, whose expression was almost as if he'd seen a chestburster, and was limping a little from some _shuriken _that had shot out from underneath the floorboards on the stairs.

The other Wybie and the cat were both faring astonishingly well - no more scratches or wounds of any sort on the other Wybie, and the cat in his regular prime.

"Well," said Coraline, holding up a crowbar. She noticed Wybie staring at her. "What?"

"Where'd you get that?" asked the other Wybie, goggling.

"I don't know. Dun really care." Out of the corner of her eye, Wybie was still goggling, but she smashed the mirror on her vanity anyway. Shards of cut glass that would have hit her best friend in between his eyes flew, and then, after some waiting, a hollow, reedy, lonely voice answered.

"You _came, _Miss."

"Yeah, did you think I wouldn't?"

"No ... but ... I'm only a voice. I need to get out of this world ... as fast as I can. So I can ... find my body."

"Okay," said Coraline. "How about you house in my head for a little while? Until we get out."

"Is it all right with you, Miss?" cried the voice gleefully; as Coraline nodded, she thought she felt some air suck into her right ear and settle into the back of her brain."

Wybie and his other looked at Coraline carefully, suspiciously.

"Don't be scared, guys," joked Coraline. "I'm only insane. There's a voice in my head telling me to do things."

Then she was serious. "But for real. We've gotta get outta here. As soon as we can."

* * *

**Note: Thanks, SilverJellicle34. By the way, Lyre's not the cat's nemesis. He's a good friend.  
Second Note: A lot of slapstick humor in this one. I dunno.  
Third Note: Remember to vote on my profile page. **


	20. Q is for Quick

_Q is for quick - it's what you must be_

_To avoid snapping snapdragons that nip at your sleeves._

_---_

**NOTE: Sorry about putting my note at the top, guys. But I've got to warn you **_**right now **_** - you people might hate me for this. I'm sorry, but this must be done. D: And yeah, sorry for skipping an Interlude. WRITER'S BLOCK is an adversary every wannabe author has to face one day. I listened to many songs writing this. It might feel out-of-sorts.**

---

"Let's go out for a walk," suggested Wybie. He cast a side, wistful glance at the other Wybie, whose immediate reaction was to look taken aback. The cat, however, sighed, knowing the envy Wybie felt.

The other Wybie held Coraline's affections. His real self did not.

"Good idea, Wybie," agreed Coraline. "I bet we'll be able to make some progress ... after all, there're a lot of things I'm curious about ... 'kay, let's go."

And so the ragtag group followed their Fearless Leader Coraline Jones out of the bedroom, down the staircase, and outside. Coraline stopped at the porch, and the cat leaped off of the other Wybie's head. "Coraline," he hissed, "and Remington. I think that one of the group will cease to be in the very near future."

Wybie blinked at his pet's astonishing prediction and looked around the circle. A spark of hope fluttered in him when he thought of the other Wybie's life stopping. Perhaps...

"Ugly thoughts." The cat narrowed its eyes. "Wybourne. Teamwork's an asset here. Use it." With that, he disappeared into thin air.

"All right, then," Coraline acknowledged. "We'll stick together. No 'ugly thoughts,' Wybie. We're a team." Those words pretty much summed up Coraline's thoughts.

---

The garden's single tree was twelve feet high, with a twisted but not gnarled trunk. Its bark had a color reminiscent to mahogany, but when it lit up, it became a brilliant, redder rust color - not to mention that, when it lit up, its flowers also bloomed. It was this very tree that Lyre and Markus had meetings every day at sporadic times. Sometimes it was pointless conversations, other times intensely guarded confidential plans on certain things. This was one of those tense meetings.

"--Should work admirably," finished Markus.

"It should." Lyre's wide, russet eyes were expressing huge amounts of concern. "Will it be received well?"

"No. And for that, I'll take care of it. One of them has to die. Unfortunately. I'll have to test before I'm sure whether or not it works. If it doesn't..."

"It's not mandatory, is it?"

"The breakthrough is. It'll be huge. Imagine it - nothing has to cease living ever again. They could enjoy the health brought by it. The miracle potion."

"It doesn't sound safe."

"It's not."

Once they heard footsteps, Lyre and Markus stopped talking. Neither could talk, speechless.

With a gulp, Markus summoned the snapdragons and gave them the instructions produced from the meeting. Then she put on a cruel, wicked face that she wore most of the time and was tired of, and waited for Coraline's group. (A/N: Cheer for the tsundere kid.)

"This is gonna throw me into hell," she told herself resignedly. "There's nothing more to be done."

And with that, human and dog stood still, side-by-side in the light of the moon.

Meanwhile, uncertainty met Coraline and her group at the gate.

"There we go." Wybie's voice was nervous as he patted the soil on the ground with his foot. "Nothing there."

"Then let's go!" announced Coraline, waving her hand in the air like a maniac. "Remington is blabbering endlessly and I'm gonna go insane!"

"Come in!" called a voice faintly. The cat narrowed its eyes.

"The dog." There was no question in his voice. "He is ... afraid. Of what?"

_Doesn't matter, does it? _asked the other Wybie unhappily. He was afraid too, of ceasing to be, and not even for a noble person like Coraline. He hated to step inside, but as everyone else entered through the gate, he knew as an absolute fact that what lay beyond was _not _a slavering, black wolf with acidic drool, waiting to rip him into shreds.

Shuddering, the other Wybie decided to collaborate.

The iron gates swung with a creak behind them. Lyre bounded up to them. In his wake, dozens of snapdragons rose from their cracks in the cobblestones drowsily. They eyed Coraline, Wybie, the cat, and the other Wybie with some apprehension before stretching to their full height and swaying to and fro.

"Here's the challenge," Lyre snarled, trying to look intimidating by using the stance of an Alpha male when opposed. "You get through the snapdragons to the other side of the garden. If you do that, we'll give you a hint about how to set your voice free."

"Okay!" said Coraline immediately. Then a very unexpected thing happened.

The cat suddenly shrieked. It looked at Coraline in panic, then to Lyre, and it came out in one fast breath. "You can't, Coraline! Here! One of us will die! During this test!" After he said it, he backed off, pressing against the gate. "The presence, it's strong here. Not all of us will survive. The one to die is ... I cannot see!" The feline was hysterical, beside himself, his visions blocked by a stronger consciousness than himself. Lyre.

"You will, or risk being the next prey," Lyre growled. He tromped off into a bush for a couple of minutes while the gathering watched with bated breath as a skull rolled from behind it. A moment later, the white wolfdog reemerged.

"Well?"

"We have to," said Wybie quietly in realization. He glared at Coraline. "Stupid, to bring me here. Now we're gonna die."

Coraline's face settled into hard lines, making her look like an Amazon woman. "You idiot. You could have refused if you'd wanted."

"You pushed me down."

"Your fault. Not mine." Coraline looked back at Lyre. "We'll go."

As the small band of adventurers walked into the snapdragons, Lyre's muffled sob was unheard.

---

"Welcome." The harsh, steely voice paused the trudging-onwards of the four-man handful. "I see you're willing to take the test. I'm glad."

"Why don't you just set us free?" asked Coraline.

"That's no fun." Markus peeked around the tree's trunk, which she had been behind after Lyre had admitted them in. She felt very sorry indeed that death awaited one of them. "We'll just see how you do."

The snapdragons curled backwards, revealing a small, narrow cobblestone path.

"One at a time. While you walk, they'll snap at you from all sides. If you _squish _one of them, everybody loses. Make your way over here and stand in front of the tree."

Coraline glared at the tree, although she knew it wasn't faulty for their predicament.

Slowly, Coraline took one step forward. The first pair of snapdragons raised their orange, reptilian-looking heads in anticipation. Then, sucking in a breath, Coraline sprinted across the path so fast that none of the flowers were able to catch her. She sighed in relief and took her place in front of the red tree.

The cat went next, uneasily; his psychic ability gave him a large margin of victory, though, as he predicted which ones would nip at him and dodged a couple of seconds before they snapped into thin air.

The other Wybie gulped noiselessly as he looked about the garden; with much ado, he slowly walked through the army of snapdragons, but it wasn't necessary. Coraline, the cat, and Wybie's eyes widened as they realized that the snapdragons seemed to be repulsed by the doll, curling backwards into spirals, narrowing their beady eyes.

Last was Wybie. He had an obvious disadvantage, his hunched back from scoliosis - it was going to impair his movement, he knew. Everyone knew.

The snapdragons rose to their full heights and watched him as he started to put one foot in. When he was assured that they wouldn't attack him just yet, he jumped and landed in an empty cobblestone space. The snapdragons reacted immediately and predictably. They started nipping at his heels, winding around his ankles, trying to throw him off balance. It did the trick; Wybie fell backwards, but the flowers all slithered from the path fast enough and he hit the back of his head on the hard rock. Cursing, he tried to stand up again, his temples throbbing, as the snakelike flowers once again entwined his feet...

"Enough." Markus' loud voice sent the flowers wreathing into helicals. "Wybie passes. He was more than half past the path, and he didn't squish anyone when he fell. Therefore, come here, Wybie."

Wybie eagerly hurried to Coraline's side. She smiled at him, then turned to the resident torturer. "You said you'd give us a clue on how to get out," she reminded the child.

"Ah, yes!" said Markus. "Soon."

"What?"

"After _this!_" snarled Lyre, pouncing on a knot in the tree's roots.

The cobblestone floor crumbled under Coraline and her friends, and they were sucked into a vacuum-like chasm that knocked them out.

---

Coraline woke up. She looked around wildly, trying to recollect her thoughts, and when she saw the dreary black, she shuddered. That kid.

She twisted around and felt her hand; it had fallen asleep under her. She struggled to take it out, and when she did, she shook it off. Coraline then felt around, for the hole was dark and gloomy. It smelled like rancid rat droppings, too.

She felt button eyes. "Other Wybie!"

The other Wybie came alive under her hand. He tried to sit up, and it was too dark to see his expression, but Coraline thought she could see his frown. She searched the nearest vicinity, but finding nothing else, she called out. "Cat?"

"Coraline..." answered the cat dryly. "Wybourne's not breathing."

Coraline blinked. "_What?_"

"He's not ... moving. Or breathing. And he's cold." The cat padded over to Coraline's side in the darkness, as cats can see in the dark. "I knew one of us would cease to be."

Coraline moaned and stifled a cry. "He's dead? Absolutely?"

"Absolutely." The cat's voice sounded flat and expressionless.

The other Wybie's mind started to panic. _Dead? How ... how ... how can that be, Cat?_

The black cat replied, "Come and see." Coraline followed the faint steps that the cat had and stopped when he did. She felt in front of her. Yes, it was Wybie. He definitely wasn't breathing.

Coraline cursed. "Damn it! Why you, why-were-you-born? Why?" She tried not to cry. She really did - she tried wiping her eyes and blinking a lot and even thinking of happy things, but they couldn't stop her sobbing once it came. She was calling his name over and over again, the other Wybie thumped her on the back sympathetically, the cat meowed in anguish. It sounded like a very loud funeral. And that it was.

Markus looked into the pit nervously, and Lyre resisted howling. Instead they had to do with letting their hearts thump faster and faster, vehemently, when the haunting lament rose from the pitch-black.

"What have I done?" whispered Markus.

"What have we _done?_" wailed Lyre. He let the wild song of the wolf burst from his lips to join the song from below.

When everything calmed, Coraline started screaming at both Markus and Lyre.

**"WHAT THE HELL?! YOU THINK YOU CAN KILL OFF MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT?! COME DOWN HERE AND I'LL TEAR YOU APART! WHY DID YOU - WHY?!"**

"We're sorry," whimpered Markus, "but it was indubitably necessary."

**"MY FOOT! I'LL KILL YOU!"**

"I'm sorry. Take my clue as repentance."

**"YOU WISH! I'LL DISEMBOWEL YOU!"**

The cat, however, shushed Coraline. "Go on!"

"Cocobeetles, buttons, friends and foes, the meaning of all this my other knows." After the rhyme finished, Markus snapped and the other Wybie, the cat, and Coraline were standing on creaking, empty stairs leading into an abyss far below.

* * *

**Second Note: Longest wait for an update. D: Mmkay. Hate on me all you want. I killed Wybie.**


	21. R is for Ragdoll

_R is for ragdoll, they look so benign_

_Secretly watching you all of the time._

_---_

"It doesn't look safe," remarked the cat, distraught, about the darkness the stairs tumbled into.

The other Wybie nodded. _It gives me the creeps, _he added wistfully, _reminding me when I was made. Made by the super spider witch who ripped out my vocal cords and left me to die when she had no more use of me._

_We can stop detailing, _the cat thought back dryly.

Coraline's face was oddly blank, as if she didn't really care what the hell happened to her life anymore. She seemed to say, "No, take my insignificant life now, take it and tear my life to pieces, if Wybie's dead then I should die too," an emo-ish kind of thought. What came out of her mouth, however, was simply "Let's go."

"You don't have to if it's too much," replied the cat, but before he'd finished, Coraline was already stepping down into the maw.

_She'll probably end up stew, _the other Wybie mused sadly.

The cat sniffed. "Haven't you any faith in your friend?" he said, and bounded into the darkness too.

This left the other Wybie alone on the dark stairs as he heard his comrades' steps fading away. Feeling paranoid, he hurried after them.

After a while, he bumped into Coraline, who in return nudged him in the ribs. The other Wybie winced; after a few more minutes of descending what seemed to feel like a spiral staircase, they stopped at a huge old brass door with a rusty knocker shaped in the likeness of a gargoyle.

The other Wybie reached up for it and banged it against the heavy door.

Nothing but the echo of the banging followed. Unnerved, the cat looked at the other Wybie and Coraline, then he backed slowly away.

Then a harsh voice half-commanded them. _"Come in, then children, don't be afraid; there are needles to be sought, and dolls to be made."_ The door swung open. _"No dawdling, no loitering, and don't ask questions - until you're inside, where begins your sessions." _It was, like the knocker, rusty, but also hoarse and cold and careless; very much like a dead thing, maybe a zombie.

Coraline didn't care much for zombies. She stepped inside. The cat and the other Wybie also did, cautiously; it was much darker than outside, which was, the other Wybie had though, impossible, and in the far right corner of the dark, dark room was a small flicker of light. Huddled next to it was a hunched-over creature wearing all black and seemingly lifeless.

"Did you call to us?" asked Coraline hollowly.

The creature's head jerked up; the other Wybie staggered backwards in horror. It had one button eye, black and evil-looking, and a big "X" of thread where its right eye button should have gone. The thing's hair was, as far as Coraline could tell, dark brown, with two or three rats nestled there. It was very gaunt, emaciated and scrawny, its skin pale and ghastly. Its mouth bore stitches like the other Wybie's, except on the outside, sewn into a permanent frown.

_"Hello young ones, I see you've made it here. Don't you worry, there's nothing to fear. Excuse my verse, I am a poet. If you've got a question, do your best to throw it."_

"Who are you?" asked Coraline. "Why did you call us here? Where's this? What are you planning?"

The thing's button eye seemed to flash; with great difficulty, it spoke again, furiously. _"I'm her other, so you see. I really wasn't meant to be; I called you here to find some help - to help my hand and your poor whelp. This is my mother's workshop, miss, where she makes her dolls in utter bliss; I am a doll is what I am, my purpose is..." _At this point, it held up both of its hands - except its left was gone. The other hand seemed to be made out of bone, with joints and sharp edges. _"To find my hand," _it finished.

"Huh," said Coraline. The thing looked up at her steadily, then stood up. "What do you mean, you're _her _other? You mean..."

_"The little child who came o'er here. She's quite the raffle, I do hear." _The thing's mouth corners twitched ever so slightly in amusement.

"I see," replied Coraline, pursing her lips. "And what would you give us in exchange for your hand?"

The doll raised an eyebrow. _"What would you like, my assistance? Or Mother's eternal distance? Perhaps a rainbow and unicorns? A bag of treats and jars full of horns?"_"No," replied Coraline. "I want you to tell me how to beat the other mother."

Even before she'd finished the sentence, the thing shrieked into laughter, doubling over. The cat and the other Wybie exchanged surprised glances. What a wild mood swing. And what a way to laugh, even if your mouth was sewn shut.

_"No such way, I do declare." _The thing eyed Coraline. _"And if you did, that would be a nice scare."_

"What do you mean?"

_"Oh, you see, she means no trouble. But outside this world, trouble goes double!" _It cackled again. _"Each step you take, all decisions you make, they set an earthquake near the Erie Lake. The things you do, the more you hate, makes troubles two and less to wait."_

"So everything we do causes catastrophe in the real world," mused the cat.

_"Right, my good feline. And all of this is just a sign!" _The thing giggled.

"A sign?" echoed Coraline.

_"Of things to come, vile and worn and just begun. Now you'd better find my hand, or Mother will turn you all to sand." _The rats in the thing's hair started becoming jittery, and Coraline's group was repulsed by the sight of an eerie, grinning doll-thing accompanied by two large, fat, black, raucous rats.

---

Lyre's paw hung limply over the table. Comfortable on a chair, his owner Markus counted the number of pages a book had (which had no page numbering).

"It wasn't right," he croaked suddenly; he pulled his paw toward himself and under his muzzle.

"All things need to be done." Markus answered in a cold voice brimming with finality. And Lyre understood.

"It was an act. All of that ... fussing over Wybie's death."

"Yes, it was. Some things have to be sacrificed for the sake of scientific research."

"It's not right," Lyre snorted sadly. Markus looked at him briefly. It hurt to see the dog almost lifeless, with his eyes half-closed, looking like a corpse. She looked away.

"It should be all right, anyway," was her muttered final answer.

---

"Here's your _hand,_" murmured Coraline, tossing the bone-hand she'd found stuck in a porcelain vase to the other Markus, who took it and popped it into its wrist, ungratefully. "Now tell us how to defeat the other mother."

The thing smirked and clapped its hands together; the rats in its hair climbed down to settle on its shoulders. _"There's almost always never time, and in the dark it's not a crime, to kill and slash and hope for best, and end up in eternal rest."_

Coraline, the cat, and the other Wybie stared. "Is that it?" asked the cat.

_"But darkness isn't an element to use when you're against a powerful beldam's hues. Love and friendship are, at best, the secret to an omnipotent zest."_

_I see, _thought the other Wybie grimly.

_"Can I come with you? It's been ages since I've seen the house in true."_

"Don't pull anything on us," growled Coraline, "and we'll let you come."

And this was, truly, how the main battle began. But before they left, and when everybody else wasn't looking, the other Markus quickly took an other mother doll from the shelf, so that she'd know what to expect.

* * *

**Note: So! Halloween Special comes up next. :D And uh, sorry, but the Fan Character project will be on hiatus for a couple more weeks ... or so. OR SO.  
Second Note: I am going to put the other father in a cat costume. And the other sisters as Ophelia and Juliet. And other Wybie as a clown. And other Bobinsky a golem. Pfff Thanks to everyone who reviewed!!**


	22. Interlude: Halloween Special

**~Halloween Special: Coraline~**

Coraline blinked as the girl on the television set was slowly devoured by the Thing. The movie producers were horrible, she thought; the blood came out all wrong.

She knew because she'd experienced a cut at the wrist before. Who heard a wrist cut spurting out gallons of blood? Wasn't that in your forearm?

Next to her, Wybie shuddered nervously, his eyes wide with terror as the Thing gave a loud belch, looked at the TV camera, and snarled in a guttural voice, _"You're next..."_ He gave out a muffled squeak and Coraline hit him over the head with a pillow.

It was Halloween Eve, the night before Halloween, and Coraline's perfect costume lay in the back of her closet - a hand-sewn (by her father, who seemed to have taken knitting when he was younger) dress and pointed witch's hat, both deep purple and patched velvet. Her parents were Wybie, of course, would be his skeleton self. If he wanted. Although how he would manage during Halloween, even with his hands over his eyes, shaking like a coward, is beyond my comprehension, and beyond Coraline's.

On with it!

Coraline turned off the television and flicked the lights on. Wybie stared gloomily from the slits his fingers made, then he looked at Coraline in sheer terror. "What _was _that just now?"

"_The Thing. _From Mom's old movie collection." Coraline shrugged. "It's Halloween Eve. I thought you were used to these, Wybie. I mean, generally, you walk around in a skeleton costume."

Wybie shuddered. "So what?"

"So you're a walking skeleton man, you should be used to spooks and all." Coraline grinned and lightly punched him on the shoulder. "Let's explore the closet."

---

"It's dark in here." Coraline blinked in the darkness. She felt Wybie's uncontrolled shivering and giggled. "Why-were-you-born is scared, _Wybie est perterritus. _I took Latin," she added as an afterthought.

Suddenly, something fell to the floor and clattered. Coraline's friend gasped and bumped into a coat rack, which fell down and thudded onto the floor, coats flying from their hooks here and there, Wybie screaming, and Coraline standing, confused.

"IT"S GOT ME! THE _THING!" _screamed Wybie, flailing. Coraline heard him and yanked the coat off of him; as soon as she did, the door to the closet slammed shut, making it completely dark.

"Great," she sighed. "Now we're stuck in here. Good job, Wybie."

"What did I do?" he gasped, staggering up.

"You shut the door!"

"Did .... not..." He felt around, looking for Coraline. He instead grabbed something sharp and in an instant, warm liquid dripped down his fingers. "Ouch! What was that?"

Coraline's voice was muffled as she gave a triumphant, "AHA!" and shone a light in Wybie's face. He stumbled and fell on the coats again, shielding himself from the bright light. Coraline laughed loudly.

"Come on, Wybie; we'll find a way out."

---

The other mother grimaced as she tried to open Markus' room door, which seemed jammed and unable to open. It sounded like there was a sneezing rhino behind the door, or something very loud at the least.

Finally, the door was wrenched open and Markus' head stuck out. She looked a little snarky at the moment and said, "Make it quick."

"Have you cleaned your room?"

"Just about done." The door closed.

"What have you done to the house?" yelled the other mother over the sound of crashing scientific equipment.

The clamor stopped again; the door opened and Markus said, "So you noticed!"

"There's Halloween decoration everywhere," pointed out the other mother, a bat zooming over her head.

"Well, yes, Halloween is my favorite holiday!"

"It doesn't mean you can string this house any way you like."

"I don't really care." The door once again shut.

---

"Found the doorknob!" announced Coraline, freeing her and Wybie from the curse of the dark closet.

Wybie followed after her, secretly jubilant. His grandmother had told him a lot of ghost stories every Halloween for the past five years, and he'd recalled most of them in his closet time. The Doberman ... the Ski Girl...

"Didn't we leave the lights on?" said Coraline, confused, as she looked at the kitchen. "In the kitchen?"

"Yeah." Wybie's eyes widened again, unhappy.

Coraline went to investigate, but Wybie hung back at first. Then, afraid of the Candy Man, he rushed to the kitchen too.

"Seems normal," affirmed Coraline (she was a natural-born adventuress, after all).

Hands clamped on both of their shoulders just then. Wybie screamed and Coraline turned.

"Wha - what!"

---

Markus shoved the last iron maiden into one of the bigger closets, then shut the door, breathing heavily. "I'm _glad _that's over."

Lyre's arrival was announced by the door creaking. He had the cat with him, who was relaxed and unfocused. "Hey," he barked.

"Hullo Lyre," replied Markus.

"I wanted to know if you saw the other father yet."

"No. Why would I do that?"

"He's already put on his Halloween costume."

"_Delightful._" Markus rolled her eyes. "Does he look like an idiot?"

"Not quite."

"Very well. You can send him here, then."

Lyre went off to fetch him, and the cat looked at Markus with slightly misty eyes.

---

Coraline tensed as her mother handed her a gift box. "I want you to open this after ten o' clock, Coraline." She laughed while Wybie shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah, okay," replied her daughter.

Mel sent Wybie home and turned on the television. Coraline went up to her room and stared hard at the box. It was orange and black striped with a red bowtie. A seemingly normal color scheme for Halloween.

Then she looked at the clock. Nine-thirty. Half an hour to go, maybe a little more, before she could open.

_What could it be?_

---

Lyre nudged along the other father, who was a bundle of nerves.

"Wh-what? Sent for _me_? B-b-but..."

"Not to worry, I'm sure you'll get along just fine." Lyre panted, then pushed him a little more.

The door was open, and Lyre pushed the other father in, who was still stuttering, and left. The cat was soon by his side, frowning. "Not the wisest choice, Lyre."

"What?" asked the dog. "Why not?"

The cat glanced back at the room. "I can't say just yet..."

---

Coraline checked the clock again. Ten-ten, exactly. She jumped out of her bed and took the box in her hands, eagerly taking the lid off. She looked inside, gasped, and dropped it.

_A needle and thread to sew your eyes - is just a perfect Halloween surprise! _read her mother's note, next to two black buttons and a sharp needle.

"No!"

---

Markus was shuffling through her closets again when the other father arrived.

"Hullo," she said without turning her back. She continued to almost ignore him completely.

"Uh..."

"I _did _send for you." She turned around and blinked at him. "You needn't be so terrified. There's nothing I could do right now to exactly do anything. Besides, I'm busy."

"Then why..."

"Because you have a cat costume on," she said pointedly. "An orange tom like the one you dressed up as would contrast sharply with black rats ... bats ... and other cats." Markus went back to shuffling in her closet.

"What's in there?" asked the other father.

"Memorabilia. Like this iron maiden, and this guillotine, and - am I scaring you? Sorry. It _is _Halloween. Ah, I found it."

"F ... found what?"

"My crossbow!" Markus pulled it out, then pondered. "But I'll need a test subject, to see if it's still in working order." She looked around for a couple of silent seconds, then turned it on the other father. "You know, you're just perfect for the job."

She grinned like a maniac and shot a bolt, laughing as he ran out of the room.

* * *

**Note: Thanks for all the reviews, people! Wybie was *briefly* resurrected for this Halloween special! Heeheehee.**


	23. Alternative to Wybie's Death Ending

**~Interlude: Death Keeps You Alive~**

_I am a cloud that does not move in the sky. I am a wordless rock down below and I am everywhere and nowhere. I am in the dark and it is cold. Dark, dark, dark. I cannot see. What is "seeing?"_

_ But I feel something now. Warm. On my hand, working its way through my body. Something new. Wonderful and painful all the same. Where has it been? Why only now does it come to me? And I had been in peace without it – but now there's turmoil in my gut, knowing I had been without it._

_ I move my left hand, reach up. What am I saying? What is "up?" I seem to be knowing things without knowing them. Making no sense at all. What is seeing, what is up? Who am I, what am I, where am I?_

_ …_

_ "Time to wake up."_

I wake up feeling as if I've just taken a breath of fresh air. That dream kept coming back, images burned into my brain so vividly I could without hesitation explain what had happened. I could write a play with the exact thoughts, the exact words of the person who had commanded me up. But when I had woken up for the first time, all I had seen was a large white dog gnawing an old bone, happy but a very gentle-looking. As I had rose out of the impression I had been placed into – a bathtub I think it's called (but I can't be sure) – it had blinked, stopped gnawing, and looked at me without a trace of hesitation, and it had begun to talk.

It introduced itself as "Lyre," meaning a type of old-fashioned harp, then led me to a place with tile flooring and a humming mechanism. He told me it was a refrigerator and taught me how to make different types of sandwiches, turkey and tuna and peanut butter and jelly. All I ate were sandwiches, but it was getting lonely – nothing else would be in the huge thing he called a "house" but himself, who walked around at night carrying a flaming orange lantern and talking to a blue-eyed black cat who would stare at me in disbelief each time I approached him. I asked the dog about this.

"Nothing," he replied promptly.

"But it was as if he'd just seen a ghost," I replied wearily, for it was eleven PM and I had gotten but thirty minutes of sleep.

"Back to sleep, kid," Lyre answered, and would pick up his lantern and tromp off into the darkness. I hated the darkness. I feared it. So I ran back upstairs, with my knees knocking and my body shaking whenever he left me in the dark. Had I called, "Don't leave!" he never would have stopped and probably break into a gallop.

He frequently mentioned a _master, _my _mother, _and other people who lived beyond where I did. When I eagerly asked him about meeting them he refused stubbornly, telling me I was too young. I asked about young and he replied with a labyrinthine answer. What a hard word, labyrinthine.

But one day, he let me out into the world beyond the hallway and room I was restricted to (he only let me see the kitchen in the dark, with his old lantern, never leaving my side lest I try straying, whence he would nudge me back along). And it was miraculous. I asked him why he had never let me out before and he blinked sadly. He led me along a colorful garden and to a deep pit, where I cried out.

"It is ugly! Why is it in here?"

"Look," he said, pointing his muzzle to the bottom of the pit. There were a girl and a boy down there, one with button eyes and one with her eyes closed.

"The girl – she was left here. You might make a fit friend for her, young'un," said Lyre proudly. "But maybe you weren't ready then. You are now. And we will train you, how to be a good friend. And from now on you will have a name, not just young'un or boy. Come, you will receive it." He led me to the huge pink house I had been trapped in once, led me behind it. And there were people there; except one was without button eyes and everyone else had them.

"What is a name?" I asked Lyre.

"It is something special that we call you by." That didn't really help my understanding, but Lyre was so patient I decided I wouldn't argue.

Lyre introduced me to them. He pointed with his muzzle to the first button-eyed person, a woman with straight black hair who was very pretty and had lipstick and a beauty mark. "This is your mother. She'll give you your name."

He swung to the next one, a tittering and very tall man who kept looking in terror over his shoulder. I was puzzled. Who was he looking at?

"This is your _father," _said Lyre cheerfully. "No more needs to be explained." Then he showed me my aunts and uncle. Then we got to the shortest of them, the only one younger than me (Lyre had been older, an adult dog). He had short, dark brown hair and cold eyes.

"My master," said Lyre, trembling like he was approaching the gallows. "How are you today?" He bowed using his front knees and I started. Lyre had never shown deference to anybody before. Then he turned to m, his eyes bright with ecstasy. I wondered what change he had underwent just then. "Your name, right?" He turned to my mother, who nodded.

"From here on … your name shall be Wybie, short for Wybourne."

And I nodded, because for some reason … it fit me perfectly. And I became Wybourne "Wybie," friend of the Girl at the Bottom of the Pit.

But, I kept wondering, what about the _boy?_ And the truth was so much worse than I'd thought.

* * *

**Note: This was an original alternative ending to Wybie's death. It's different from what I had in mind (no spoilers, k?), but I loved it so much I couldn't resist putting it up here. I loved it to death, actually. I never liked Wybie much, so this is a new thing for me - Wybie-centric. If you want a Part II put that in the reviews. Oh, yeah - thanks for reviewing guys! =w=**


	24. S is for Spink

_S is for Spink - old neighbor lady_

_Once was an actress but now she's just crazy!_

_---_

Miss Spink stared at the tea leaves worriedly.

_Caroline has been missing for days, _she thought, _and her parents are worried. What is that child up to?_

She picked up the sup of tea and swished it around a couple of times more, but the asme formation was at the bottom.

A large clump of black shaped like a button. She frowned, set it down, and sat on the couch she had bought thirty years ago, her walker beside her, whereupon she took a short nap. It wasn't long before Angus XII started whining and Jock Senior IV started barking, and when she tried to get up to reprimand them, she froze, as two apparitions, apparently bickering, had appeared in the room.

One was of a young, pudgy, short boy with short brown hair and brown eyes; the other one was, in contrast, very tall, an adult wearing glasses with the sort of look you would find more common in the old days than now. He was reminiscent of Mr. Jones.

"I hardly think that it's appropriate to initiate any sort of ... magic ... just to warn the world of what's happening!" snarled the little boy in an English accent. Miss Spink looked at him in terror, grabbing for the nearest Scottie - or at least trying, as they were all cowering under _something. _One of them had made refuge under the coffee table.

"But of course, you're the one who killed Wybie," retorted the tall one. "And that's what started this whole mess, that's how Coraline went against us, _that is why you are going to get us out of this mess!"_

"No such tone should you use with me!" barked the boy, whipping out one fireplace poker and shoving it in the man's face. He instantly withdrew, and the boy, triumphant, said, "_Ha! _Do you _dare_ go up against me, you foul, decadent, conceited little--!"

"What is going on here?!" shrieked Miss Spink, grateful that Miss Forcible was out.

Immediately the two stopped; the young boy whipped the poker behind his back again, his expression becoming mild, and the tall man crossed his arms but tried to smile, still evidently seething.

"Sorry, miss," said the boy politely. "We had to tweak a couple of ... _technical difficulties._" His eyes involuntarily trailed down his back to peek at the poker before blinking and settling back on Miss Spink.

The man agreed. "Er, we were just about to talk about Coraline until ... _that ... _happened."

"Caroline!" Miss Spink tried standing up, forgetting all about her walker. She fell back down. "Then ... do you know what's happened to her?"

"Oh, yes." The boy smiled evilly, sending a couple of shivers down Miss Spink's back. "But we haven't been introduced properly, have we? My name..." He narrowed his eyes slightly, slinging the poker over his shoulder, "is Markus Winchester. And this inferior being here..." He jabbed the tall man with the poker hard; the man yelped.

"I'm the other father," said the man, rubbing his side furiously.

"We're here to tell you Coraline's status, you know, but I wasn't volunteering."

"Sor_ry, _but you're just a selfish brat. You couldn't care less what would happen to my world, the other world..."

"As I should not! You are forgetting that you are not in a position to lecture me, you overgrown plant."

The other father grimaced. "You have no manners, either."

"Shut up before I am tempted to poke you again." Markus shook his head and looked back at Miss Spink. "Anyway, sorry for appearing so suddenly. Coraline is in the otherworld, where old pumpkin patch man here comes from."

"I am not pumpkin patch man--!"

"_And,_" added Markus loudly, drowning out the other father's protests, "Coraline is on a very brave quest in said world, saving a certain Remington from being completely wiped out. Hullo," he suddenly said very quietly, although his eyes still blazed, "I am the other mother's very own assistant, resident torturer, rich kid, and owner of one Talamasca Utonagan named Lyre."

Miss Spink's eyes were becoming wider and wider.

"I," interrupted the other father, frowning at Markus' self-satisfaction, "am an invention of the other mother, crafted from a pumpkin, and do not partake in Markus' quest of sadistic hedonism."

"Oh, shut your trap," said Markus cheerfully. "I really like pokers, and iron maidens, and crossbows. In fact, the crossbow is my favorite. But that's off-topic, no? So, Spink-Miss, we would like to show you the current scenario of the otherworld. You will not be needing your walker, as everything will be a stationary experience," he added as Miss Spink reached for her walker.

"Girls are so annoying," muttered the other father, while the surroundings started to warp and shift.

Miss Spink, however, did not hear his remark, as her home, cozy and warm, with the couch and the old gypsy favorites, began to fade and disappear. The barking of her Scotties became less and less audible as they started howling and whining. Momentarily everything went black - a dark grey fog crept in and Miss Spink felt its coldness and emptiness; it curled around them as if in examination, and then sighed heavily, floating to the ground. As if they had gone through some sort of test. And passed it.

Then there was a small, bright light in the distance, a couple of meters away, coming closer and closer without the trio actually moving. It stopped and it happened to be a lantern held by a small, bent, strange boy with a crooked smile, resembling...

"Wybourne?" asked Miss Spink in surprise, for the boy was his exact mirror image, save for one thing - the boy had button eyes, black and shiny, and the light glinted off of them from the lantern. He beckoned for them to get moving, then started walking away.

"Wait!" cried Miss Spink, but the other father just smiled wryly and put a finger to his lips; Markus raised an eyebrow as a scenery started to mold in front of their eyes, first starting with the revelation of the dark, black soil, climbing up toward numerous tree trunks and their textures, then into their wide-spread branches, barren and spindly.

"We're not there yet," said Markus, reading Miss Spink's expression in amusement, then turning to his elder. "Can't we go a little faster?"

"If you want your limbs ripped off and tossed in a gale, sure," replied the other father with a look of utmost seriousness.

"I will _kill _you," sighed Markus, "one day." And then he turned back to the trees. "Change!"

Immediately the scene faded out again; the black crept up again, and the mist too, until suddenly there was a very unexpected lurch in Miss Spink's stomach and she felt herself falling. She resisted the tumultuous somersaults the bottom of her stomach was currently going through, resisting the urge to vomit, when again, unexpectedly, a cold, icy wind blew into her face, ice crystals included, and she coughed and shielded her face with her short, stubby arms. It lasted for naught but several seconds when a burning sensation was created in every limb, every joint, as if the pressure of millions of atmospheres tried to crush her, and she was expecting for another one to come with baited breath as the searing pain worked its way round her body when--

"We are _home," _called Markus, and Miss Spink snapped out of her reverie, sweating and panting slightly. The other father noticed this.

"Everyone experiences it their first time," he said sympathetically, "and Markus was being an absolute crybaby about it. Don't worry, you did well."

"Stop being a gerontophile," said Markus. "It makes me think less of you. Like this much less." He held his fingers about three inches apart. "I already don't think well of you already, mate."

"Oh, would you be quiet! I'm coming." The other father went into the kitchen. Markus' eyes followed him for a couple of seconds, then turned back to Miss Spink."

"I am _female,_" he said with a grin, and Miss Spink outright fainted, that being slightly over her brain capacity level for the moment.

---

When Miss Spink woke up, she woke up in the same position. Confused, she looked at Markus, who again only grinned.

"It's all right, Miss. You're quite safe."

"Did my ears deceive me, dear, or did you say you were female?" asked Miss Spink in the position of utmost befuddlement.

"Your ears don't deceive you," said Markus cheerfully. "It doesn't matter what I am, though. Now..." Markus moved out of Miss Spink's line of sight, "behold the otherworld."

The otherworld was filthy - the garden looked as if it hadn't been plowed or grown anything but nettles for years, the mantis tractor had turned grey for an unknown reason, the sky had turned a deep shade of purple instead of its usual, nighttime blue, sprinkled with the magic of stars. The only thing unchanged was the house.

"And Caroline ... Caroline is here?" asked Miss Spink, aghast, to which Markus nodded.

"Indeed. This is the world she knew about, and this is the world she had at first escaped and detested. But now, her mission is to save it. If she can't save this world within three days ... the other mother will go ballistic ... and blow the world up. The whole of it, I suppose. I think."

Miss Spink's horrified expression needed no explanation, and she begged, "Take me home, so that I can warn Miriam! And oh, no, what about the boy's grandmother?"

"They won't believe you, Miss," said Markus. "But if you like, you could tell them. You're just a crazy'un now." Markus laughed, and disappeared, and then everything around Miss Spink started to disappear, fading once again into the black...

---

"April! April!"

Miss Forcible's calls woke up Miss Spink, who groaned.

"Thank goodness! April, I thought you were dead! The dogs were just barking so loudly and..."

"Miriam ... the world ... it's at stake here..."

There was a deafening silence; even the dogs ceased there barking, and there was a tense atmosphere.

"April ... you must be exhausted. Lie back down..."

"No, Miriam!" shot Miss Spink, uncharacteristically agitated. "Remember when you thought Jock Senior growled at you? A boy - or a girl - and a man! They came to me! They were prophets of the future! We are gone in three days, Miriam!"

Miss Forcible was very worried now. "April, that was a hallucination - now, go back to sleep..."

For the moment, Miss Spink gave up. But just as she was about to fall asleep, she saw Markus talking to the other father.

_"The way it works? I'm only happy when you're not. And you're only happy at _my_ expense ... I don't hate you for it, though ... why?"_

Why indeed, did the world have to be like this?

* * *

**Note: It's been forever since my last update! O.O I'm really busy with school, sorry, sorry! Forgive me! This was a fast chapter, so it doesn't flow too smoothly.**


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